Katie Zarich took her husband Jon's last name after meeting Jon's elderly grandmother. They are pictured with their 5-month-old son, Blaise.

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If not for her husband's grandmother, Katie Zarich might still be Katie Beyer. With her then-fiance Jon's blessing to do whatever she wanted, Zarich was on the fence about whether to change her name as her wedding approached in 2005.

Then Zarich, now 30, met her fiance's grandmother. As she bonded with the octogenarian, her thinking shifted.

"She was a very fiery person and completely lovely," said Zarich, who lives on the Northwestside. "If this name was good enough for her, it's going to be good enough for me." ...